The European smelt (Osmerus eperlanus) is a small predatory fish that inhabits cold-water estuaries. Once common in the UK, it has suffered significant declines since the early 19th century due to water pollution, over exploitation and destructive river engineering. Improvements to water quality in the latter half of the 20th century have allowed smelt to return to 36 water courses in England including the Tidal Thames. It is protected under a variety of regulation and can act as an indicator for good water quality due to its sensitivity to pollution. The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) has just completed a…
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Volunteers helped move over 800 amphibians to safety when the annual bedding plants were changed in Victoria Park’s Sunken Garden. The densely-planted bedding plants, in addition to producing a stunning display of colour through the summer, provide perfect foraging habitat for frogs and other amphibians. The plants provide dense cover, their flowers attract insect food, and regular watering ensures damp conditions, ideal for a frog. With West Lake nearby for breeding, the flower beds are summer home to good numbers of frogs. But twice a year, the bedding is changed – the summer bedding is planted in the spring, and…
During September, staff and visitors to Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park were astonished when a huge spider web, several metres long, appeared across the top of the green waste pile near the Knapp Road gate. This was not, however, the work of a giant spider, but a joint effort by lots of small ones, as the web was covered in hundreds of tiny spiders. Local spider expert Edward Milner identified them as Ostearius melanopygius, a communal species not previously recorded in Cemetery Park. Edward found that males, females and juveniles were all present when he examined the web on 3 October,…
Meath Gardens has joined Victoria Park, Mile End Park and seven other parks in the borough by earning its first Green Flag Award. The park has an army of fans and an active friends group, which takes pride in ensuring it always looks its best. Mayor John Biggs was joined by councillors, Friends of Meath Gardens and local residents to take part in in flag raising ceremony to celebrate the success earlier this month. Mayor Biggs said: “Congratulations to everyone who has helped Meath Gardens win this prestigious accolade for the first time. The council prides itself on maintaining all…
With Swift numbers and nesting sites in decline Europe’s biggest nature conservation charity, the UK’s biggest house builder and Manthorpe Building Products Ltd have collaborated to create a new Swift nest box in a brick format which can then easily be fitted in any new home. Every year the enigmatic Swift announces the arrival of the British summer as they complete a 6,000 mile migration to nest in the UK. However with falling population numbers there are now less than 90,000 breeding pairs arriving in the UK, down from almost 150,000 pairs just two decades ago. Part of this decline…
On 10 August, local butterfly expert Terry Lyle found a Long-tailed Blue in Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park. This is the second record for Tower Hamlets of this butterfly, following one at East India Dock Basin in 2012. It is the 32nd species of butterfly recorded at Cemetery Park, a phenomenal number for an inner London site. This is testament to the hard work put in over many years by the Friends of Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park, both in enhancing butterfly habitats, and in recording butterflies and other insects. Terry recounts his exciting find: “A needle in a haystack has nothing…
The Big Butterfly Count is a nationwide survey aimed at helping assess the health of our environment. It was launched in 2010 and an impressive 10,000 people took part, counting 210,000 butterflies and day-flying moths across the nation. Over 52,000 people took part in 2015, counting over 580,000 individual butterflies and day-flying moths across the UK (see the 2015 results). This year’s Big Butterfly Count is taking place from Friday 15 July to Sunday 7 August 2016. The survey is run by the charity Butterfly Conservation. To take part, simply count butterflies for 15 minutes during bright (preferably sunny) weather…
Following good years for nesting Common Terns at East India Dock Basin in 2014 and 2015, no terns nested there this year. Terns appeared as usual this spring, and were active around the rafts throughout May, with pairs seen mating. At least one bird appearing to be on a nest in late May and early June, but it is not clear whether eggs were laid. If they were, the nest had failed by mid-June, and no further nesting attempts were made. The reasons for this are not clear. It could be that low water levels at critical times, when terns…
At the end of June, top street artists painted endangered British wildlife on the Soanes Centre in Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park. This follows the very popular Endangered 13 murals of globally-threatened animals painted on the railway arches along Ackroyd Drive Green Link earlier this year. Cemetery Park Manager Ken Greenway, who organised the painting, explains: “We sourced funding from a City-based Company and we linked with a chap called Bablu, who lives on Brick Lane. He’d approached us following the success of the work on Ackroyd Drive. He found the artists and got sponsors for the spray paint. Three artists…
Thames21 has created two new areas of native wetland vegetation in the Lea Navigation in Bow in May 2016. In late May, a new sixty-metre-long “floating ecosystem” (see photo above) was installed adjacent to the car park of Tesco’s Bromley by Bow superstore, thanks to funding from the Tesco “Bags of Help” scheme and the London Legacy Development Corporation. As well as improving the biodiversity of the area, the aim of this floating ecosystem is to break down pollutants in the river and improve the water quality, to provide habitats for wildlife and a place for fish to spawn. Earlier…